The swath of desert stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East, and the Persian Gulf has vast amounts of solar energy along with warm weather. The average daily high temperatures in these regions range from 43° C. to 49° C. in the summer, with some of hottest days having temperatures over 53° C. Additionally, large parts of the United States for collecting solar energy such as the Mojave Desert and Great Basin Desert have summer daily high temperatures from 35° C. to 49° C.; some summer days have temperatures higher than 49° C.
As a result of the warm weather in these and similar regions, challenges arise because the heat can disrupt solar collection processes or equipment. For example, heat can cause equipment to malfunction or fail. Although standard air conditioning systems are one solution for cooling equipment, it can be difficult to set up air conditioning systems in high ambient temperature environments due to operating temperature limits, or remote locations such as deserts because of lack of a power and/or resources to build and maintain these systems. Moreover, the additional power required to operate air conditioning systems is generally adverse to, and may even defeat the purpose of, gathering and converting solar energy. Accordingly, there remains a need for systems and methods for cooling equipment in a solar environment.